December 04, 2013

Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda death toll reaches 5,818

The death toll in the wake of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: “Haiyan”) on Wednesday neared the 6,000 mark, nearly three times the initial estimate made by President Aquino days after the strongest typhoon to hit land battered Eastern Visayas.

There were still discrepancies in the numbers, however, highlighting the government’s inadequate system of assessing the physical damage from natural disasters.

Latest reports from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and field reports showed there were 5,818 fatalities from Yolanda, nearly the majority of whom drowned in the storm surge that caught many residents by surprise. Of the figure, the NDRRMC said that 2,116 were from Tacloban City.

On Wednesday, field reports from Tacloban City showed that authorities had already recovered 2,215 bodies.

It was not even clear whether there were really a hundred bodies found floating in mangroves in San Juanico Bridge on Tuesday.

Senior Supt. Pablito Cordeta, an official of the Bureau of Fire Protection office here and the commander of the Task Force Cadaver in Tacloban City, said that his group recovered 25 bodies on Tuesday, bringing the total to 2,215.

He said another seven bodies were retrieved from the San Juanico Bridge on Dec. 2.

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The death toll in the wake of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: “Haiyan”) on Wednesday neared the 6,000 mark, nearly three times the initial estimate made by President Aquino days after the strongest typhoon to hit land battered Eastern Visayas.

There were still discrepancies in the numbers, however, highlighting the government’s inadequate system of assessing the physical damage from natural disasters.

Latest reports from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and field reports showed there were 5,818 fatalities from Yolanda, nearly the majority of whom drowned in the storm surge that caught many residents by surprise. Of the figure, the NDRRMC said that 2,116 were from Tacloban City.

On Wednesday, field reports from Tacloban City showed that authorities had already recovered 2,215 bodies.

It was not even clear whether there were really a hundred bodies found floating in mangroves in San Juanico Bridge on Tuesday.

Senior Supt. Pablito Cordeta, an official of the Bureau of Fire Protection office here and the commander of the Task Force Cadaver in Tacloban City, said that his group recovered 25 bodies on Tuesday, bringing the total to 2,215.

He said another seven bodies were retrieved from the San Juanico Bridge on Dec. 2.